Oh Captain, My Captain!!!

In to the Deep Seas!

Welcome one and all! For those of you who are interested, I am an IOE article. You see Captain Red Zone comes at you with a lot of different decks for your viewing pleasure, but sometimes he writes articles that he doesn’t post anywhere. He types them up and holds on to them for times where he can’t write one for the week. You may see articles like me in between theme series or at random times during the year. So if you’re reading this, the Captain is either sick, out of town, or tied up in other affairs.

It’s very likely he didn’t have me checked by the team over at the Knowledge Pool, so I maybe full of misspellings, shorter in word count, and grammatical errors everywhere. So please be nice to me. I wasn’t made to be checked, I’m here to make sure you get your Magic fix. But I’m still going to bring you some fun! This week I’m going to bring to you a themed Commander deck that comes from the grimy deeps. So this week I’m bringing you a deck based on the Quest for Ula’s Temple.

Interesting story, for those of you who care about flavor, this card this was made for Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre. In the Zendikar block there were three religions that were based around the three powerful “Gods” of the plane. In Zendikar and Worldwake, there were a few cards that make reference to these Gods. Like Emeria Angel and Emeria, the Sky Ruin is from the religion that worships an Angel that turns out to be Emrakul, the Aeons Torn. There were some cards for Kozilek, the Butcher of Truth but I’m having trouble remembering what they were. But any card with Ula on it was for a deep sea creature the Merfolks worships that turns out to be Ulamog.

I felt that these cards got kind of a bad rap because they usually don’t work for the creature they were based on.  So to fix that, I made a Mono Blue Deck full cards that use this quest for what it was meant for. Sorry Ulamog, but you’re not the commander here. This one is going to use…

So let’s get to it!

Open Waters!

Segovian Leviathan, Vodalian Serpent, Inkwell Leviathan, Tidal Kraken, Isleback Spawn, Deep-Sea Kraken, Kederekt Leviathan, Trench Gorger, Marjhan, Stormtide Leviathan,Thing from the Deep, Grozoth, Sea Monster, Benthic Behemoth, Serpent of the Endless Sea, Harbor Serpent, Spire Serpent, Sliptide Serpent, Deep-Sea Serpent, Shrouded Serpent, Scrapdiver Serpent, Slipstream Serpent, Sandbar Serpent, Tolarian Serpent, and Shoal Serpent:  These guys all hit a point on the Quest and they are just the kind of guys you want to get to drop for free. The problem? A lot of these creatures can’t attack or become better when your opponents have an Island. But that’s something we can get to later.

Giant Shark, Devouring Deep, Sky-Eel School, Windrider Eel, Narwhal, Great Whale, and Killer Whale: Now there are a few cards that are not going to give you a counter on you quest but if you’re going into deep waters you will find Whales, Eels, and Sharks. These make it more of a Quest then just a journey.  Also, any deck that plays Giant Shark gets an auto-win when it hits the field because it’s the most broken thing ever printed.

Dreamwinder, Kukemssa Serpent, Tidal Warrior, Streambed Aquitects, Floodchaser, Spreading Seas, Lingering Mirage, Quicksilver Fountain, Aquitect's Will, and Sea's Claim: This set is full of cards that are here for the simple fact that you’re not going to see an Island on every opponents side of the board every game. This set is full of things to help make sure that when your team is finished with Guard Duty and sees that your opponent has taken to the high seas, they can feel free to smash their face.

Quest for Ula’s Temple, Quicksilver Amulet, Copy Artifact, Sol Ring, Thran Dynamo, Voltaic Key, Gilded Lotus, and Tezzeret the Seeker: Here is how we plan to get our creatures out and on to the field. The Quest is clearly the key card for this deck, but Quicksilver Amulet can help to do a very similar thing in this deck. The rest of this set is for when you need to hard cast you creatures. Voltaic Key and Any Artifact that taps for more than a single mana adds so much extra mana it can’t be overlooked. Use it to make 3 mana with your Sol Ring, 5 mana with your Thran Dynamo and your Gilded Lotus… then double those numbers when you use Tezzeret the Seeker to untap the Key and a mana rock. Copy Artifact is here so you can get the chance to have extra mana, an extra Key, or one more Amulet if you have the mana to use it twice.

Spin into Myth, Hinder, Spell Crumple, and Propaganda: A small but useful control package. Not much to see here. Moving on…

Mimic Vat, Mind Unbound, Jace, Memory Adept, Alluring Siren, Mind Control, Jace Beleren, and Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre: Here we have a few fillers that can be fun to use. Also I made room for Ulamog just because It can be used to shuffle your graveyard back and is also very awesome!... even if it’s not a Kraken… or a Leviathan… or an Octopus… or even a Serpent… but looking at it now I can see how you could get a little confused. But I like the idea of using Mimic Vat to make tokens of our huge creatures that our opponents that time to try to kill.

The Not-So Quiet Storm!

I think this deck works best with 38 Islands, but as always you should feel free to play around with the mana base.  But there it is. Another Blue Deck for you looking to try something that doesn’t get you hated out the moment it’s seen.  Well that does it for this week. Next week a friend of mine from CommanderCast.com will be stopping by for a little Blue/Black fun.

 Hope you had fun and please leave any comments or suggestions.  Until next time,

This is your Captain speaking… We’re heading into the Red Zone!!!!

1 Lorthos, the Tidemaker

1 Quest for Ula's Temple

1 Inkwell Leviathan

1 Giant Shark

1 Devouring Deep

1 Sky-Eel School

1 Windrider Eel

1 Tidal Kraken

1 Isleback Spawn

1 Deep-Sea Kraken

1 Segovian Leviathan

1 Kederekt Leviathan

1 Trench Gorger

1 Marjhan

1 Stormtide Leviathan

1 Thing from the Deep

1 Grozoth

1 Sea Monster

1 Benthic Behemoth

1 Vodalian Serpent

1 Serpent of the Endless Sea

1 Harbor Serpent

1 Spire Serpent

1 Kukemssa Serpent

1 Sliptide Serpent

1 Dreamwinder

1 Deep-Sea Serpent

1 Shrouded Serpent

1 Scrapdiver Serpent

1 Slipstream Serpent

1 Sandbar Serpent

1 Tolarian Serpent

1 Shoal Serpent

1 Narwhal

1 Great Whale

1 Killer Whale

38 Island

1 Mind Unbound

1 Jace, Memory Adept

1 Quicksilver Amulet

1 Alluring Siren

1 Mind Control

1 Tidal Warrior

1 Streambed Aquitects

1 Floodchaser

1 Spreading Seas

1 Lingering Mirage

1 Quicksilver Fountain

1 Aquitect's Will

1 Sea's Claim

1 Jace Beleren

1 Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre

1 Copy Artifact

1 Mimic Vat

1 Sol Ring

1 Thran Dynamo

1 Voltaic Key

1 Gilded Lotus

1 Tezzeret the Seeker

1 Spin into Myth

1 Hinder

1 Spell Crumple

1 Propaganda